CHARLESTON, S.C. (Legal Newsline) - BASF Corporation's proposed $316.5 million settlement with public water systems over chemicals known as PFAS has gained preliminary approval.
South Carolina federal judge Richard Gergel gave the agreement thumbs up on July 3. Class counsel are lawyers from firms Douglas & London, Baron & Budd, Napoli Shkolnik and Motley Rice.
They have asked for fees representing 8% from bigger settlements with DuPont and 3M. Their motion for approval of the BASF settlement started with a quote from Desmond Tutu: "Freedom translates into having a supply of clean water."
PFAS are a group dubbed "forever chemicals" because they persist in groundwater and human tissue for years. They are found in firefighting foam and consumer products.
The federal government has set a maximum contaminant level for PFAS, even as groups call the move premature. Much of the research regarding their effect on the human body is disputed.
Gergel is presiding over a multidistrict litigation proceeding designed for claims from water districts and personal injury plaintiffs. Consumer class actions have also sprouted up around the country, with varying levels of success so far.
One case originally sought to represent basically every American, then was pared to every Ohioan. An appeals court tossed that case recently.
Plaintiff lawyers in the MDL claim to have spent more than 430,000 hours pursuing the cases. BASF said considering 3M manufactured 90% of the PFOA in the world, it would be nearly impossible to tell whether its PFOA products were contaminating water districts.
Water sampling was conducted ahead of bellwether trial dates, with plaintiff lawyers claiming "it became readily apparent to BASF that it faced significant risk should either of the cases proceed to trial."